Woman in critical condition after crash

RICHMOND – A 43-year-old woman remains in critical condition and a 12-year-old boy is stable after a head-on collision Sunday, hospital officials said.

The woman, whom police identified as Heather Paprocki of McHenry, was airlifted to Advocate Condell Medical Center from the scene of the accident on Route 12, just north of Hill Road.

Paprocki and the boy, who also was taken by Flight For Life, were passengers of the Toyota Rav4 driven by 18-year-old Allison Paprocki also of McHenry. She was taken to Centegra Hospital – McHenry for treatment of less severe injuries.

According to the accident report, a car driven by Leon Barshak, 64, of Northbrook, entered into Paprocki’s lane and struck her car head on.

Barshak was charged with improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. Fire crews had to quickly extinguish an engine fire in his Nissan Altima that was involved in the crash.

A third car swerved into a ditch to avoid the crash and struck a bush and damaged a real estate sign. All three passengers in that car did not seek medical treatment, but the car was damaged.

The department requested a total of five ambulances and two emergency helicopters, and traffic was cut off along Route 12 for 45 minutes.